Original subtitles

I dedicate this film to all the militants of the African cause.

Come on!

Get going!

Your son has escaped.

Until he appears, you will be kept like this.

Until his son appears, he will be kept in the sun.

If your son doesn't appear, you'll be sent to prison.

Have the soldiers left?

This war isn't ours.

It's the White man's war. Me, I refuse to go.

You will not be killed.

I don't want to go.

If you don't, Father will be sent to prison.

Father!

You think you're smart? I'm smarter! Come on!

Follow me, men!

The Whites have emptied the village with their war.

All our sons were forced to enlist.

Greetings to all.

Greetings to you.

Don't say anything to Kabebe... Listen.

We witnessed what happened.

Before, the son used to inherit from his father.

Nowadays, the father inherits from his son.

The Elders ask what we should do.

What to do?

I wonder if our gods see

the situation we are in.

I am worried about their silence.

Our children are with the Whites and life goes on.

Our children carried off to war...

- For what war? - The war in the White man's country.

And I wonder what our gods think about it.

What they think about all this...

Kabebe, pour yourself a drink. Let's drink.

The Whites are heartless. Barbarians.

It's the least that can be said.

When will their war end?

It has lasted for years and years.

Soon, the village will be empty.

Dead for want of strong arms. Do you understand?

Platoon, attention!

At ease!

Sergeant, translate for me.

You've volunteered.

You'll go to Dakar, then to France.

Marshal Pétain is the French chief.

He's my father and yours.

France is at war with Germany.

France does you a great honor.

I know you'll be equal to your fathers in World War I.

On your return,

you'll have fine war stories to tell your children.

Have a good trip. As your chief, I'm proud of you.

Only my job here prevents me from leading your company.

God bless you!

Round up the recruits.

Sergeant!

Give the roster to the Colonel.

Have a good trip.

Right face!

Shoulder arms!

Forward, march!

To the founders of French West Africa

and the glory of the black army.

One Year Later

Sit down.

Lieutenant, how did the Diolas learn the news in the bush?

I don't know, sir. The niggers don't know our secret code.

It's not Dakar!

It's incredible!

We'll discuss it later.

Dakar's decided

to convert taxes into goods.

As you see, this year's

rice crop is good and plentiful.

Your orders:

Take a machine-gun platoon.

Your mission will be two-fold.

Bring back the rice for the Dakar troops

and maintain law and order out there.

The people have rebelled

against the local commander.

He's expecting you. Be firm.

But remember the colonial troops

don't like much the Legion.

The sub-division chief is the acting

commander. He knows the natives well.

I suggest Badgi as your non-com.

He's from the area

and he's our best auxiliary man.

Dismissed!

By the way,

Lieutenant, issue Sergeant Badgi a revolver.

The women are going to hide the rice.

We cannot leave the rice for the Whites.

- They are right. - Better to die.

Did you understand?

We have to decide, it is time.

First, the White men wanted our sons, now our rice.

You, Kabebe...

We can't do anything without consulting the gods.

Let us give a sacrifice to get their protection

before any action.

Calcum, your turn.

It's not the fighting that frightens me, but the gods' anger.

Let us honor our gods with our offering.

Truly, let us consult our gods.

I believe in our gods.

But we have no time

to do anything.

Djimeko.

You don't believe in our gods anymore

and you want to cast doubts on our gods.

No, Kabebe.

I don't say that.

Truly, I don't think so.

But where were the gods

when the Whites razed the village?

When the Whites took our sons for their war?

Remember...

Kabebe.

You remained all day long tied in the sun.

Where were our gods?

We all suffered the same humiliation.

Where were our gods?

Where are they now?

The Diola will never abandon his fetishes.

Let us make a decision, they are coming.

Do you hear?

They are here.

Death doesn't scare me.

Rather our gods... We must protect ourselves from them.

Rice is a woman's sweat.

It has been sanctified by Salignan.

That would be an offense against our dignity

giving rice to the White men.

A man lives or dies with a spear in his hand.

Let he who feels himself to be a man follow me.

Let's go!

Hurry up!

- The chief? - Not a sign!

- Is the village empty? - The women are there.

Can you find them?

Have the men bring them here.

You! Go get the women!

Go that way and get 'em!

- What's that? - For farming.

- Farming what? - Rice.

You eat rice often?

- Yes, what? - Yes, Lieutenant.

The village certainly has rice.

Halt!

Is that everyone?

There's still more.

You from here? Put all those women in the sun. Quick!

Search the entire village. I want all those fatmas at once!

In the sun!

Put 'em over there.

In the sun!

In 1917 I ended the mutiny.

In 1940 I stopped the retreat.

Today I want to save you from yourselves.

Glory and sacrifice of Pétain, Marshal of France

Sir, I was beginning to worry.

Round up all the women is all I could do.

I found a local dignitary.

Sergeant!

Translate what I say.

All the villages have paid the tax.

This one must pay, too: 66 lbs of rice per person.

They're to supply 50 tons.

Tell him we'll keep the women...

till the village pays the tax.

He can tell the others.

He can go.

Why not kill the chief and name one who likes France?

They'd poison any chief we'd name.

The Sergeant's from the village.

It'd be the same for him.

What's that drumming?

No idea.

What's that drumming about?

About Djimeko being shot.

Our guns have been at it again.

I am back.

O! Bakin!

Baliba!

Samboune!

Apoya!

Abounket!

Here is your son Djimeko, wounded...

whose destiny you hold.

Salignan...

Eyoumpene...

Bakin...

We come to consult you.

Djimeko... look...

Talk, Djimeko...

Talk to the spirits.

Emitaï...

Master of the sky and of war.

Eyoumpene...

Goddess of light.

Salignan...

Goddess of plenty.

Bakin...

The earth father.

You are rebelling by refusing the offerings intended for the gods.

That is why you are here.

Bakin!

Why this fatal destiny?

Rice is sacred for the Diola.

Don't you see that the Whites...

want to kill us,

to humiliate us in front of our wives?

We refuse that.

Is rice more sacred than we are?

O! generous Ayoun!

Who has done more for you all?

I don't deserve your anger.

Never have the people broken your laws.

Are you more sacred than our lives?

We have always respected your offerings.

The White men don't let us

live in peace.

You have offended the gods

by your disobedience to our rules.

Do we have to give the rice to the Whites?

Don't you see that the village is dying?

What have you done for us?

You no longer believe in us, you will die.

So be it. I am a danger to you!

Yes, these new times don't forgive.

So, I must die.

All right, but you will die with me also.

The brave!

The intrepid!

The silk cotton tree felled by the hurricane will never stand again.

We shall be without shade.

The gods have spoken.

Forward, march! Hup, 2, 3, 4!

Platoon, halt!

Right face!

What do you think?

Force the women to talk.

No, if we're rough,

they'll kill themselves and we've no rice.

They only live for their dead.

The rice they keep is only for funerals.

We need that rice

for the troops and France.

It's our duty to take firm action.

Our problem is that it's the women who guard the rice.

Who's that kid?

Which one?

There with his pal.

Giant,

you knew that you were to rejoin the ancestors.

Why didn't you listen to my words

and stay with us?

The gods must be obeyed.

Today we cannot organize a funeral worthy of you.

We know why.

Today we cannot

follow our customs.

Funerals need women...

and now they are prisoners of the White men.

Do you want a worthy burial?

We cannot do it.

Did you tell yourself that a man lives or dies

with a spear in his hands?

Our sons are gone, our wives are prisoners.

We will bury you

as the times require.

Let's go.

I think it's time. Stay here, Lieutenant.

Go back, so I may salute you for the last time.

Is it by your own desire

or love for your wife...

that you are placed so high?

It's because of the White men who have carried off our sons...

and keep our wives imprisoned.

The giant!

The fearless!

The indomitable!

I salute you once more.

Let me conduct you to your peers.

Surround them!

Come on!

Translate what I say, Sergeant.

France sympathizes with their grief.

I knew their chief, a great chief.

No more ceremony for today.

Without the rice, no ceremony.

The rice is for your children

at war in France.

He says their children are

at war for you, not for them.

If they don't bring the rice, I'll burn the village.

I'll burn that one and imprison the women.

Now they can go and talk.

Get everyone out of here.

Put 2 guards by the body.

Brothers,

I cannot hide my anxiety at these events.

The soldiers, our wives kept as prisoners,

our dead and our gods... I don't know what to say.

The gods are angry about Djimeko.

Let us give them an offering.

Humiliation has never been so great.

Our wives are hostages,

Djimeko with no funeral worthy of his rank.

Djimeko said here that a man dies

or lives with a spear in his hand.

He spoke as a leader.

Rice is sacred, we must live.

Let us appease the gods' anger.

I shall offer a goat.

Block all the exits, Sergeant.

2 guards over there, 2 here, 2 there.

What's up in the village?

They won. The men shot the chief.

You gotta be tough on niggers.

I've been with 'em since the war, I begin to know them.

Sir...

What's up?

- What is it? - Water.

- For the women? - Yes.

Alright.

Sir!

- What now? - A spy.

- What'd he do? - Spoke to the women.

What'd he tell them?

Keep quiet!

Here is the goat.

Do you see, my brothers?

Now what?

Sergeant!

What are the drums saying?

They've just named a new chief

after sacrificing a goat.

They're savages!

O! Bakin.

We come again to beseech you

that Djimeko may rest in peace.

The White man says that we can bury him

after we have given the rice.

Rice is sacred for man.

We would deny all our beliefs if we gave the rice.

We would humiliate ourselves in front of our wives.

You, who know good and evil,

we beg for your counsel and protection.

We are in your hands.

I've inherited a wounded France.

It is my duty to defend this heritage

by maintaining your hopes and your rights.

Marshal Pétain...

- Know him? - Not me!

Big chief, rule Africa.

Rule everything?

Rule me?

Marshal Pétain rule France, everything.

OK, him rule me.

He's head of France.

The French chief.

- What's up? - They've been quiet for 2 hours.

Why?

In these areas we oughta kill them off.

They won't give the rice.

The women'll be imprisoned for revolt

and we'll burn the village.

We've got a few hours yet.

Sergeant!

Fire without warning if anyone moves.

Men, fire on sight at anyone who moves.

Here's news from headquarters.

Well, Sergeant?

Shit! A thousand times shit!

- What now? - It's hit the fan!

Pétain out, De Gaulle in.

So? De Gaulle or Pétain, we still need the rice.

Remove those Pétain posters and put these up instead.

The new French chief, a brigadier general.

Who's that?

De Gaulle, a brigadier general!

2 stars, the new French chief.

2 stars.

- Marshal, how many stars? - 7.

Him rule France now?

You fooling us, Sergeant. Since when 2 stars command 7?

Me corporal, you sergeant.

I command you? What army?

That corporal's a schmuck.

No insult me!

Insult against rules!

Where you see 2-star general

outrank 7-star marshal?

You want fool me, me fool others.

Me a veteran.

Me enlist for the war.

What do you know about wars?

They're not won in an office.

Believe me, I know!

So now it's De Gaulle.

This morning you were singing

"Marshal, we are here!" Now, it'll be "General, we are here!"

Yes, he runs France now.

The gods don't appear.

Calcum.

The night hen isn't looking for corn for its chicks.

Antaï.

A fall eases those who are tired.

Let us pay!

That's true.

When all means are exhausted, you can live without shame.

Where do we come from?

To the East are the Portuguese.

To the North, the English.

At our backs is the sea.

Here we have the French.

And we must live here or die.

Who would dare to be the first to give rice?

What can be done? Where are our wives?

The White man says he will set fire to the village.

Djimeko and our wives will be taken to prison.

Know you all that he will do it.

Kabebe...

I ask you what may be done.

Djimeko doubted our gods.

I also have begun to doubt.

But we must choose...

to live with this shame or to die.

Let them pass.

They finally decided.

An iron hand's all they understand.

I told you so.

His family's share.

Ask him if the rest will pay.

He pays only for his own family.

Where are they?

His wife's there.

Here's the family.

They're free but not him.

He's to tell us where the rice is.

Sir, they won't leave.

If he won't show us where the others hid the rice

I'll imprison him with the women.

Call the soldiers.

What's going on?

Front line, kneel.

Sir, they won't leave.

Fire at will!